Battles
by Light Under My Skin
Summary: Just a day in the life of those fighting Voldemort. They will have their battles but, before that, there are the personal battles to face. Written for HPFC "Quotes" Challenge.


Summary: Just a day in the life of those fighting Voldemort. They will have their battles but, before that, there are the personal battles to face.

HPFC "Quotes" Challenge

Rules: Given a quote, you have to write a fic based off it! Bonus points is you can actually have a character say or think the full quote during the story, but if not, just use it as inspiration. The major themes of the quote should be evident in your fic.

Quotes: "A cynic is a man, who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."

"In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

Lily Evans walked into the Auror office, making sure to take a deep breath before she opened the door.

Honestly, how an office could smell so bad (and be so messy) was beyond her. True, a group of (mainly) men worked here and, _true_ they had other more important things to do than clean up but _honestly!_

Bringing her face closer to the flowers, she inhaled, happy that their scent kept the other, less pleasant ones at bay.

"Where's the funeral?" Moony called from his office, where he was reclining in his chair, his eye going crazy as always.

Lily smiled indulgently at the paranoid man, saying to him, "Oh Moody. Always a cynic."

"A cynic, huh?" he barked in that no-nonsense voice of his, but he granted her a smile nonetheless. To Moody, that was one of the highest compliments you could give the man, short of calling him paranoid.

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers-"

"Looks around for a coffin," James Potter said, appearing from behind some rubbish and finishing her sentence for her, "Honestly do you two do anything but repeat the same line?"

Lily laughed at him, giving him a quick kiss, "It's Moody's own way of checking it's really me. And I him," she added as an afterthought, only to be rewarded by his 'atta-girl' from the other room.

"Besides, I quite like tradition," she said to her fiancé, then lowered her voice suggestively, "As you _quite _well know."

James gulped, causing a snigger from the man that appeared behind him.

"Sirius!" Lily said to him, embracing the attractive man. Beside her, James gave a huff of pretend jealousy.

"Even my own fiancée likes you better."

From all around, hidden people laughed.

"Hello everyone!" Lily called out, hearing various replies from those hidden in the room. Alice and Frank Longbottom were there without a doubt, along with Marlene McKinnon and probably Dorcas Meadoews.

Indeed, Dorcas took that opportunity to take a well-deserved break and go greet her friend.

"Dorcas! I brought flowers!" Lily held out her gift proudly, as if it were a surprise.

Unamused, Dorcas shot her a glare, "Lily, you bring flowers in every week."

"Dorcas," Lily shot back, with the same loving venom, "You smell worse than the guys."

Clutching her heart, Dorcas took a few staggering steps back, saying dramatically, "Oh! I'm wounded!"

In a room full of Aurors, that was the wrong thing to say. Immediately, ten heads popped up from where they'd been hiding, wands at the ready, while Moody shouted, "Where is he!"

"Joking!" Dorcas shouted above the melee, trying to calm everyone, "I was just joking."

Everyone settled back uneasily into their seats, still alert.

Honestly, it was times like these where Lily was somewhat glad she hadn't gone into the Auror program, and instead decided to work on medicine and healing. As amazing as it would be to be a full-time Death-Eater-hunter, Lily didn't think she could stand being constantly on-edge.

Besides, she'd die of the smell in hours.

Still, she couldn't help but sigh at the gloominess of the place. So, as she always did, she started freshening up, casting freshening charms, reorganizing paperwork, and transfiguring trash into flowers to bloom all around the tired and over-worked Aurors.

They needed happiness.

Fortunately, Albus Dumbledore always seemed to know when he was needed.

One could say that Albus burst into the room like the sun's first morning rays, but that would be likening Dumbledore to something that exploded. Albus didn't burst, he _glided_.

So it will suffice to say that, on that day, Albus Dumbledore succeeded at _gliding_ into the room like the sun's first morning rays.

"Good morning," he said to them, his quiet voice carrying to the farthest reaches of the room.

Lily couldn't help but note (with some jealousy) that their replies to him were much more enthusiastic.

Still, so were hers.

"Dumbledore!" she exclaimed, running up to the man and hugging him briefly. Now, no normal person in their right mind would take it upon themselves to hug Albus Dumbledore (that simply _was not _done) but Lily had always hugged the man, since she graduated from Hogwarts, and he seemed to accept it well enough.

"I've brought you the latest plans," Dumbledore said to Moody, placing some paper scrolls on the man's desk. It was so cluttered Lily feared Moody would lose the precious papers but, be it by luck or some invisible skill, Lily had never seen Moody lose a thing.

Lily felt as if she were back in school, asking her teacher the same eager questions, "I didn't know there were plans for a battle!"

Dumbledore looked amusedly over his spectacles at her, "My dear, in preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

"So you're planning for a battle?" James asked behind her. He seemed a bit put out not to have known about it before hand, especially seeing as he was both an Auror _and _a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

"We are always preparing for battle, dear James. Good day," he said to the room, chuckling once more, in his Dumbledore manner, before sweeping out of the room as quickly and abruptly as he'd come.

"Battle," James said to Sirius behind her. It was a question, a statement, and a promise. James gave her a quick kiss on the head before eagerly following his friend to their cubicle, no doubt to make plans and discuss this new development.

Lily laughed their foolishness, and went back to tidying the office. There might be battles brewing, and maybe even war, but for right now, that office was still dirty, and she was stubbornly determined to clean it.

It was her own personal battle, in a way.


End file.
